Reclining chair with leg-rest mounting linkage



A ril 17, 1962 F. F. SCHLIEPHACKE RECLINING CHAIR WITH LEG-REST MOUNTINGLINKAGE Filed July 7, 1959 FIG. 2.

. IN V EN TOR. F'Q/DT/OF l? J C HA /EP//,4 CKE' BY amm J ATTORIVEXSUnited States Patent @ffiee 3,939,144 Patented Apr. 17, 1962 3,03,144RECLINENG CHAER WITH LEG-REST MOUNTING LINKAGE Fridtiof F. Schliephacke,herlin schmargendorf, Germany, assignor to Anton Lorenz Filed July 7,1959, Ser. No. 825,573 7 Claims. (Cl. 297-89) The present inventionrelates to improvements in reclining chairs of the type incorporating anunderslung leg-rest, and in particular relates to a new and improvedleg-rest linkage which normally maintains the leg-rest in an underslungretracted position, parallel to and close to the lower surface of theseat and is operable to move the leg-rest to an extended position spacedwell forwardly of the front of the seat.

Leg-rest arrangements of the underslung type are customarily employed inreclining chairs of the type in which the seat and back-rest structureis movably mounted on a support frame having high legs which maintainthe seat raised well above the floor surface and present an open andunencumbered space beneath the seat. In accordance with the dictates ofmodern styling, such types of chairs are customarily provided with openframework sides mounted on long'legs of narrow diameter. and foresthetic reasons it is therefore necessary to conceal the leg-rest andits actuating linkage in the retracted position thereof. Thus, in thenormal upright sitting position of the chair, the latter has theappearance of a normal wellstyled chair, and its contours remainunbroken by projecting links. An underslung type of leg-rest istherefore employed and is so mounted that in its retracted position itis closely spaced from the bottom surface of the seat and is maintainedsubstantially parallel thereto, being normally concealed by the siderails of the open work chair frame. The leg-rest linkage must also be soarranged and must be of such construction that in the upright sittingposition of the chair it is collapsed or folded into an extremelycompact form with the links thereof closely spaced from each other andhidden by the chair framework.

The concealment of the leg-rest and its actuating linkage in the uprightsitting position of the chair presents a difiicult problem when it isconsidered that as the seat and back-rest are moved rearwardly or tiltedinto a reclining position, the linkage must be capable of swinging theleg-rest through an angle of approximately 180 from the invertedhorizontal position beneath the seat to an upright horizontal positionforwardly of the seat. Such a movement involves a relatively long pathof travel of the leg-rest in response to a short path of travel of theseat and back-rest structure. The leg-rest linkage must therefore bemade in a compact form and at the same time must contain means foraccelerating the movements of the leg-rest in response to a relativelyshort movement of a body supporting structure. This requirement iscomplicated by the fact that the links of the linkage must be madesuficiently long to permit the leg-rest to be brought to an extendedposition in which it is spaced Well forwardly from the leading edge ofthe seat and properly positioned to support the legs of the occupant.

A further problem in the construction of a chair of the aforementionedtype is encountered when the leg-rest is swung through a verticalposition in its travel from the inverted underslung retracted positionto the upright extended position. Chair design requires that the seat belocated a comfortable distance from the ground surface and the spacebetween the forward end of the seat and the floor surface is thereforelimited. The path of travel of the leg-rest must therefore be soregulated that when the leg-rest passes between the seat and the floorsurface, it

is not fully in its vertically-disposed position and does not strike orscrape the floor surface.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a leg-rest linkagefor reclining chairs of the type described which overcomes theaforementioned problems in an effective and economical manner.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a leg-rest linkageof the character described in which simple and compact means areprovided for accelerating the movement of the leg-rest and therebyproviding a relatively long path of movement of the leg-rest in responseto the short path of movement of the body supporting structure.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a leg-rest linkageof the character described in which novel means are provided fordelaying the movement of the leg-rest through its vertically-disposedposition until the seat has been raised a sufficient distance to provideclearance above the floor surface for movement of the legrest.

In accordance with the present invention, the leg-rest linkage includesa link connecting the leg-rest to the forward end portion of the seat,the link being in the form of a double-arm lever pivotally connected tothe seat and controlled by an actuating link pivotally mounted on thesupport and connected to the short arm of said lever. The double-armlever, the actuating link, and the seat, form a drag-link mechanismwhich provides an amplified actuation of the leg-rest linkage and aconsequent long path of movement of the leg-rest. At the same time, thisdrag-link mechanism also provides a lost motion phase of movement whichdelays the swinging of the leg-rest to its vertical position until theseat has risen a suflicient distance to provide clearance above thefloor surface.

Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent during the course of the following specification when taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings which show by way ofillustrative example the incorporation of the invention into one type ofreclining chair, and in which;

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, with parts broken away and shown insection, of an improved reclining chair embodying the leg-rest linkageof the present invention, the ch air being shown in its upright orsitting position; and

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 1, but showing thechair in a rearwardly-tilted position with the leg-rest linkage extendedand theleg-rest in its elevated, leg-supporting position.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the chair shown therein hasa fixed and immovable support frame or base ltl which is formed by openside frames 12 including side rails 14 connected by cross-bars orbraces, such as the members 16, 18, and 20. The side frames 12 includehigh legs 22 which mount the support frame, and particularly the siderails 14, well above the floor surface. A body supporting structure 24is mounted on the support frame Ill for rearward tilting movement to areclining position. In the illustrated embodiment herein, thebody-supporting structure 24 includes a seat 26 and a back-rest 28formed rigidly with each other as an integral unit, although it is to beunderstood that the invention may be applied to that type of chair inwhich the seat and back-rest are independently movable. To provide thetilting movement for the body-supporting structure 24, a plate 30,rigidly aflixed to the seat 26, is mounted by pivot 34 on a bracket 32rigidly connected to the support frame it}. The body supporting unit 24is thus turnable about this fixed pivot 34 from the upright sittingposition shown in FIG. 1, to the rearwardly-tilted reclining positionshown in FIG. 2. In this reclining position, the

lower rear end of the body-supporting unit 24 engages the I cross-bar 18and is restrained thereby from further rear-' ward movement. The chairalso includes a leg-rest 36 which is carried by a leg-rest actuatinglinkage designated generally by the reference numeral 35, the latterbeing mounted on the support or frame and connected to the seat 26 in amanner which will be presently described. It is to be understood that inactual practice the leg-rest 36 is supported by and controlled by a pairof identical linkages connected to the opposite sides thereof andmounted at the sides of the seat. Since these linkages are identical,only one has been shown in the drawings and only one will be describedherein.

The leg-rest linkage 35 includes a first pair of links 38 and 40 whichare connected in end-to-end relationship by a pivot 42. The free end oflink 38 is connected by pivot 44 to the leg-rest 36, while the free endportion of link 40 is mounted by pivot 46 on the seat 26. The legrestlinkage also includes a second pair of links 48 and 50 which areconnected in end-to-end relationship by a pivot 52. The free end of thelink 48 is connected by pivot 54 to a point on the leg-rest 36 which isspaced from the pivotal connection 44. The free end of link 56 isconnected by pivot 56 to a bracket 58 rigidly mounted on the supportframe 10. The link 48 crosses over an intermediate portion of the link40 and is connected thereto at the crossing-over point by pivot 59.

The link 40 has an integral extension 60 which extends substantiallyperpendicularly to the axis of said link 40 beyond the seat pivot 46.The link 40 and its extension 60 therefore take the form of a double armor bell-crank lever in which the link 40 is the long arm and theextension 60 is the short arm, the lever being pivotally mounted on theseat at the juncture of its two arms. An actuating link 62 is pivotallymounted at one end by pivot 64 on a fixed portion of the support frame10. The free end of the actuating link 62 is connected by pivot 66 tothe free end portion of the link extension or short lever arm 60.

In the retracted position of the leg-rest linkage 35 shown in FIG. 1,the links 4-0 and 50 are rearwardly disposed and are almost in ahorizontal position, forming acute angles with their respectiveconnected links 38 and 48, so that the leg-rest linkage is folded in anextremely compact form in which it is substantially concealed by theseat 26 and the side frames of the support 10. The legrest 36 issupported in its retracted, underslung, and substantially horizontalposition, being closely spaced beneath the lower surface of the seat 26and being in alignment with, and concealed by, the side rails 14. Theextension 60 of link 40 extends vertically upward and the actuating link62 extends forwardly and upwardly from its pivotal mount 64. The bodysupporting structure 24 is in its upright sitting position, and a stopmember 70, carried by the seat 26, engages and rests upon the fixedbracket '58 to support the forward end of said seat and prevent it fromtilting downwardly from this upright sitting position.

When the occupant of the chair exerts a rearward pressure upon theback-rest 28, the body-supporting unit 24 will turn rearw-ardly upon thefixed pivotal mount 34 until it reaches its reclining position of FIG.2. This turning movement of the body supporting unit 24 raises theforward end of the seat 26 and causes the actuating link 62 to exert arestraining influence on the link extension 60, causing the bell cranklever 40, 60 to turn about the seat pivot 46. This rapidly advances thelink 40 in a forward and upward direction, in a manner which will bepresently described in greater detail, to bring the legrest 36 to itsextended position of FIG. 2, in which it is substantially at the levelof the forward end of the seat 26 and spaced a substantial distanceforwardly thereof. The link 40, in turning to its extended position,also raises the link 48 through the pivotal connection 59, cansing thelink pair 48 and 50 to unfold and increase the angle therebetween. Thelink 48 controls the angular attitude of the leg-rest 36 and turns itabout the pivot 44 through an angle of approximately from the invertedposition of FIG. 1 to the upright position of FIG. 2.

It will be observed that in the retracted position of the leg-restlinkage 35 shown in FIG. 1, the angle between the extension 60 of link40 with the actuating link 62 is very small, and that in the extendedposition of FIG. 2, the extension 60 is substantially aligned with theactuating link 62 so that it forms an angle of approximately 180therewith.

The link extension 69 is therefore formed through a very wide angle fromits upright position of FIG. 1 to its downwardly-extending position ofFIG. 2 and thus moves the link 49, representing the long arm of thedouble-arrn lever, through a long path of movement for extending theleg-rest. The free end of the extension 6% is made sufficiently long tooverlap the actuating link 62, and is provided with a rigid stop member72 which engages the edge of the actuating link 62 in the extendedposition of FIG. 2, to prevent the extension 6t) and the actuating link62 from passing through the dead center, aligned position.

It will be appreciated that the actuating link 62, the link extension65), the seat 26 and a portion of the support frame, form a drag-linkmechanism comprising of a four-bar linkage in which the portion of thesupport frame it between the fixed pivots 34 and 64 is a stationarylink, and three movable links are constituted by the seat 26 between thepivots 34 and 46, the actuating link 62, and the link extension 60. Theseat 26 constitutes the driving crank of the drag-link mechanism, whilethe actuating link 62 constitutes the driven crank and the linkextension 60 constitutes the connecting rod. Only a small portion of therotational movement of this draglink mechanism is utilized in thelinkage herein for the purpose of obtaining the greatest possibleangular movement for the link extension or connecting rod 69, producingthe important result of rapidly increasing the angle between theextension 60 and the actuating link 62 and thereby moving the leg-restrapidly through a long path from its retracted to its extended positionin response to a relatively small upward movement of the seat 26.

An important feature of the invention is the unexpected function of theactuating link 62 in delaying the turning of the leg-rest 36 about thepivot 44. When the forward end of the seat is initially raised from itssitting position of FIG. 1, the seat pivot 46 is moved in an upward andrearward direction with it about the pivotal mount 34, raising the link40 and its extension 60. The actuating link 62 during this initial phaseof the movement pivots rearwardly, that is to say in a clockwisedirection as viewed in FIG. 1, about its fixed pivot 64, so that theangle between said actuating link 62 and the link extension 60 is notappreciably increased. When the seat pivot 46 reaches the height of thepivot 66 at the end of the actuating link 62, said actuating link thencommences its action as the driven crank of the drag-link mechanism,restraining the free end portion of the rising link extension 60 andcausing the same to turn rapidly about the seat pivot 46. During thisphase of movement, the actuating link 62 pivots forwardly or in acounterclockwise direction about its pivotal mount 64 until, in theextended position of FIG. 2, it is in substantial alignment with thelink extension 6%. The effect of this is to produce a delay in themovement of the leg-rest 36 which permits the forward end of the seat 26to move upwardly and to raise the entire leg-rest linkage 35suiliciently to provide clearance for movement of the leg-rest 36. Whenthe leg-rest reaches its vertically-disposed position, it is thereforespaced above the floor surface and will not strike or rub against thelatter.

It is to be understood that the free end of the link 50, instead ofbeing pivoted at 56 to a portion of the support frame, could also beconnected to the seat 26 to produce the same action without afiectingthe movement of the leg-rest linkage. It will also be understood thatthe seat 26 instead of having a fixed pivotal mount 34, could also bemounted on the support frame by a link or a pair of guide links, as iswell known in the art.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed herein by way of illustrative example, it will be appreciatedthat numerous additions, changes and omissions may be made in suchembodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

l. A reclining chair comprising a support frame, a body supportingstructure including a seat and a back-rest mounted on the support framefor rearward tilting movement from an upright sitting position to areclining position, a leg-rest, and a leg-rest linkage supporting thelegrest and adapted to move the latter from an underslung positionbeneath the seat to an extended position forwardly of the seat, saidleg-rest linkage including a pair of interconnected links, the firstlink of said pair being pivotally connected to the leg-rest and thesecond link of said pair being pivotally mounted on the forward end ofsaid seat, said second link having an integral extension extendingbeyond the pivotal mount on the seat and forming with said second link adouble-arm lever, and an actuating link pivotally mounted on saidsupport frame and pivotally connected to said extension, said actuatinglink extending upwardly and forwardly from its pivotal mount to itspivotal connection with said extension in the upright sitting position,and the latter pivotal connection being located above the pivotal mountof the second link on the seat, whereby the actuating link turnsupwardly and rearwardly with the seat during the initial rearwardtilting movement of the body-supporting structure to delay actuation ofthe second link until the pivotal mount of the second link reaches thelevel of the pivotal connection of the actuating link with saidextension, the actuating link then restraining upward movement of saidextension with the seat and causing the extension to turn about saidpivotal mount on the seat in response to tilting movement of the seat,whereby to move the second link forwardly and raise the leg-rest towardits extended position.

2. A reclining chair comprising a support structure, a body supportingstructure including a seat and a backrest mounted on the supportstructure for rearward tilting movement from an upright sitting positionto a reclining position, a leg-rest, and a leg-rest linkage supportingthe leg-rest and adapted to move the latter from an inverted underslungposition closely spaced beneath the seat to an upright extended positionsubstantially at the 0 level of the seat and spaced forwardly thereof,said legrest linkage including a first pair of links formed by a firstand second link connected end-to-end, and a second pair of links formedby a third and fourth link connected end-to-end, the first link andthird links being pivotally connected to spaced points on the leg-rest,the second link being pivotally mounted on the forward end of said seat,the fourth link being pivotally mounted on one of said structures, meanscoupling the second and third links for coordinated movement thereof,said second link having an integral extension extending beyond thepivotal mount on the seat and forming with said, second link adouble-arm lever, and an actuating link pivotally mounted on saidsupport structure and pivotally connected to said extension saidactuating link extending upwardly and forwardly from its pivotal mountto its pivotal connection with said extension in the upright sittingposition and the latter pivotal connection being located above thepivotal mount of the second link on the seat, whereby the actuating linkturns upwardly and rearwardly with the seat during the initial rearwardtilting movement of the body-supporting structure to delay actuation ofthe second link until the pivotal mount of the second link reaches thelevel of the pivotal connection of the actuating link with saidextension, the actuating link then restraining upward movement of saidextension with said seat and causing the extension to turn about saidpivotal mount on the seat when the latter is tilted rearwardly, wherebyto move the second link forwardly and raise the leg-rest toward itsextended position.

3. A reclining chair comprising a support frame, a body supportingstructure including a seat and a backrest mounted on the support framefor rearward tilting movement from an upright sitting position to areclining position, a leg-rest, and a leg-rest linkage supporting theleg-rest and adapted to move the latter from an underslung positionbeneath the seat to an extended position forwardly of the seat, saidleg-rest linkage including a pair of interconnected links, the firstlink of said pair being pivotally connected to the leg-rest and thesecond link of said pair being pivotally mounted on the forward end ofsaid seat, said second link having a substantially perpendicularintegral extension extending beyond the pivotal mount on the seat andforming with said second link a bell-crank lever, the second linkextending rearwardly with said extension disposed upwardly therefrom inthe underslung position of the leg-rest, and an actuating link pivotallymounted on said support and pivotally connected to the free end portionof said extension, said actuating link extending upwardly and forwardlyfrom its pivotal mount to its pivotal connection with said extension inthe upright sitting position, and the latter pivotal connection beinglocated above the pivotal mount of the second link on the seat, wherebythe actuating link turns upwardly and rearwardly with the seat duringthe initial rearward tilting movement of the body-supporting structureto delay actuation of the second link until the pivotal mount of thesecond link reaches the level of the pivotal connection of the actuatinglink with said extension, the actuating link then restraining upwardmovement of said extension with the seat and causing the extension toturn about said pivotal mount on the seat in response to tiltingmovement of the seat, whereby to move the second link forwardly andraise the leg-rest toward its extended position.

4. A reclining chair comprising a support frame, a body supportingstructure including a seat and a back-rest mounted on the support framefor rearward tilting movement from an upright sitting position to areclining position, a leg-rest, and an interconnected double four-barlinkage supporting the leg-rest and adapted to move the latter from anunderslung position beneath the seat to an extended position forwardlyof the seat, one of the links of said double four-bar linkage beingpivotally mounted on the forward end of the seat and having an integralextension extending beyond the pivotal mount on the seat and formingwith said link a double-arm lever, and an actuating link pivotallymounted on said support and pivotally connected to said extension forrestraining upward movement of said extension with the forward end ofsaid seat when the latter is tilted rearwardly, the extension definingan acute angle with the actuating link in the retracted position of theleg-rest, said actuating link extending upwardly and forwardly from itspivotal mount to its pivotal connection with said extension in theupright sitting position and the latter pivotal connection being locatedabove the pivotal mount of the second link on the seat, whereby theactuating link turns upwardly and rearwardly with the seat during theinitial rearward tilting movement of the body-supporting structure todelay actuation of the second link until the pivotal mount of the secondlink reaches the level of the pivotal connection of the actuating linkwith said extension, the actuating link then causing the extension toturn about said pivotal mount on the seat in response to tiltingmovement of the seat whereby to move the second link forwardly and raisethe leg-rest toward its extended position.

5. A reclining chair according to claim 4, in which said one link islonger than its extension, said one link forming the long arm of thedouble-arm lever. and the extension forming the short arm of thedouble-arm lever.

6. A reclining chair comprising a support frame, a body supportingstructure including a seat and a backrest mounted on the support framefor rearward tilting movement to a reclining position, a leg-rest, andan interconnected double four-bar linkage supporting the legrest andadapted to move the latter from an underslung position beneath the seatto an extended position forwardly of the seat, one of the links of saidleg-rest linkage being pivotally mounted on the forward end of the seatand having an integral, substantially perpendicular extension extendingbeyond the pivotal mount on the seat and forming with said link abell-crank lever, and an actuating link pivotally mounted on saidsupport and pivotally connected to said extension for restraining upwardmovement of said extension with the forward end of said seat when thelatter is tilted upwardly, said one link extending rearwardly and theextension being substantially vertically-disposed in the retractedposition of the leg-rest, with the actuating link extending upwardly andforwardly toward said extension and forming an acute angle therewith,the actuating link, the extension, and the seat forming a drag linkmechanism in which the portion of the seat between the pivotal mountthereof on the support frame and the pivotal connection of said one linkthereto is the driving crank, the actuating link is the driven crank,and the extension is the connecting rod, said drag-link mechanism beingoperative to turn the extension and said one link through an angle ofapproximately 180 to move the leg-rest to its extended position inresponse to a relatively short movement of the seat, the pivotal mountof said one link and said extension on the seat being located below thepivotal connection of the actuating link with the extension in theretracted position of the leg-rest, the actuating link being positionedto move rearwardly and thereby delay its restraining action on saidextension during the initial movement of the seat and until said pivotalmount has reached the level of said pivotal connection.

7. In a reclining chair comprising a support structure, abody-supporting structure including a seat and backrest mounted on thesupport structure for rearward tilting movement to a reclining positionin which the forward end of the seat is raised relative to the supportstructure, and a leg-rest; a leg-rest linkage supporting the leg-restandcoupled to the seat and support structure for actuation by thebody-supporting structure to move the leg-rest from an underslungposition beneath the seat to an extended position forwardly of the seat,the leg-rest being inverted and closely spaced beneath the seat in itsretracted position and being upright and spaced forwardly of the seatsubstantially at the level thereof in its extended position, saidleg-rest linkage comprising a first pair of links constituting a firstand second link connected end-to-end, a second pair of linksconstituting a third and a fourth link connected endto-end, the firstand third links being connected to spaced points on the leg-rest, thesecond link being pivotally mounted on the forward end of the seat, thefourth link being pivotally mounted on one of said structures, thesecond link having a substantially perpendicular integral extensionextending beyond the pivotal mount on the seat, the extension beingshorter than the second link and defining therewith a bellcrank leverpivotally mounted on the seat with the extension as the short arm andthe second link as the long arm, and an actuating link pivotally mountedon the support and connected to the free end of said extension, theextension being disposed in a vertically-upright position from itspivotal mount on the seat in the retracted position of the leg-rest withthe second link extending rearwardly and the actuating link extendingupwardly and forwardly toward said extension, the secondlink and itsextension being raised with the forward end of the seat when thebody-supporting structure is brought to its extended position and thefree end of the extension being restrained by the actuating link tocause the second link to turn about the pivotal mount on the seatthrough a wide angle to a position in which it is downwardly directed,whereby to move the leg-rest through a relatively long path of movementfrom its underslung retracted position to its extended position inresponse to relatively short tilting movement of the body-supportingstructure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,693,845 Hoffman Nov. 9, 1954 2,893,472 Repaich July 7, 1959 2,906,318Schliephacke Sept. 29, 1959 2,909,213 Winick Oct. 20, 1959 2,943,670Hoffman July 5, 1960

